What mean ye - What is your object? Or, What advantage is it to you? Or, By what right or pretence do you do this?

Beat my people to pieces - That is, that you trample on them; or cruelly oppress them; Psalm 94:5.

And grind the faces of the poor - This is an expression also denoting great oppression. It is taken from the act of grinding a substance on a stone until it is worn away and nothing is left. So, by their cruel exactions, by their injustice to the poor, they exhausted their little property until nothing was left. The word "faces" here is synonymous with "persons" - or with the poor themselves. The word "face" is often used in the sense of "person;" Exodus 33:14; 2 Samuel 18:11. A similar description, though in still stronger language, is found in Micah 3:2-3 :

Who pluck off their skin from off them,

And their flesh from off their bones;

Who also eat the flesh of my people,

And flay their skin from off them;

And they break their bones, and chop them in pieces,

As for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

And grind the faces - The expression and the image is strong, to denote grievous oppression but is exceeded by the prophet Micah, Micah 3:1-3 : -

"Hear, I pray you, ye chiefs of Jacob,

And ye princes of the house of Israel:

Is it not yours to know what is right?

Ye that hate good and love evil:

Who tear their skins from off them,

And their flesh from off their bones;

Who devour the flesh of my people;

And flay from off them their skin;

And their bones they dash in pieces;

And chop them asunder, as morsels for the pot:

And as flesh thrown into the midst of the caldron."

In the last line but one, for כאשר keasher, read, by the transposition of a letter, כשאר kisher, with the Septuagint and Chaldee.

What mean ye, that ye beat my people to pieces,.... Reduce them to the utmost poverty; so the Targum,

"wherefore do ye impoverish my people?''

as they did by exacting tithes of all that they possessed; by requiring large sums for their long prayers; and by various traditions they enjoined them to observe:

and grind the faces of the poor? either by smiting them on the cheek, as Christ, who became poor for our sakes, was smitten by them; or by bringing them into such low circumstances, by their exorbitant demands, that they had not sufficiency of food to eat; by which means their faces became pale, thin, and meagre:

saith the Lord God of Hosts: who saw all their actions, and was able to plead his people's cause, and take vengeance on their oppressors.

What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, {m} and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

(m) That is, you show all cruelty against them.

15. What right have ye to beat, &c. (Ps 94:5; Mic 3:2, 3).

grind-by exactions, so as to leave them nothing.

faces-persons; with the additional idea of it being openly and palpably done. "Presence," equivalent to "face" (Hebrew).

3:10-15 The rule was certain; however there might be national prosperity or trouble, it would be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. Blessed be God, there is abundant encouragement to the righteous to trust in him, and for sinners to repent and return to him. It was time for the Lord to show his might. He will call men to a strict account for all the wealth and power intrusted to and abused by them. If it is sinful to disregard the necessities of the poor, how odious and wicked a part do they act, who bring men into poverty, and then oppress them!